Biz Break: Google profit disappoints Wall St.; plus: iPad vs. BlackBerry

Today: Google (GOOG) reports earnings for its most recentquarter. Plus: Apple's (AAPL) iPad vs. BlackBerry Playbook -- andthe PC industry. And: Silicon Valley home sales.

Google earnings

Google, the Mountain View Internet advertising juggernaut,reported a $2.3 billion profit for its most recent quarter, up 17.5percent from a year earlier. First-quarter revenue was $8.58billion.

"We had a great quarter with 27 percent year-over-year revenuegrowth," Google Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette said in anews release accompanying the earnings report.

"These results demonstrate the value of search and search ads toour users and customers, as well as the extraordinary potential ofareas like display and mobile," Pichette said. "It's clear that ourpast investments have been crucial to our success today -- which iswhy we continue to invest for the long term."

Google's earnings came in at $7.04 a share.

Excluding certain costs, though, Google said its earnings wouldhave been $8.08 a share. Google reports revenue before trafficacquisition costs. Excluding those costs, Google's revenue wouldhave been $6.54 billion. On that basis, analysts had been expectingadjusted earnings of $8.12 a share and adjusted revenue of $6.32billion, according to Bloomberg News.

Google revealed that it had 26,316 full-time employees as ofMarch 31, up from 24,400 at the end of 2010.

New Google CEO Larry Page is expected to take questions frominvestors in a conference call this afternoon.

Google stock finished regular trading today at $578.51, up $2.23,or 0.4 percent, from Wednesday's closing price. Google's results,though, were released just as the stock markets closed. The shareswere falling sharply in after-hours trading.

iPad vs. Playbook; iPad vs. PCs?

The reviews are in: Research In Motion's PlayBook tablet is aworthy contender to Apple's iPad -- at least for those of you whoare addicted to your BlackBerry.

Here are some key points today from reviews around the Web:

-- David Pogue, The New York Times: "The PlayBook acts as a giantviewing window onto the contents of a BlackBerry phone. Whatever e-mail, calendar, address book and instant messages are on theBlackBerry now show up on the PlayBook's much roomier screen -- alive, encrypted two-way link."

-- Walter S. Mossberg, All Things Digital and The Wall StreetJournal: "This first edition of the PlayBook has no built-incellular data connection and lacks such basic built-in apps as anemail program, a contacts program, a calendar, a memo pad and evenRIM's popular BlackBerry Messenger chat system. To get thesefeatures with your $500 PlayBook, you must use it with a nearbyBlackBerry phone connected to it wirelessly over a short-rangeBluetooth connection."

-- Rachel Metz, The Associated Press: "Nobody has been able tomatch the iPad thus far. But the PlayBook, the first effort fromBlackBerry smartphone maker Research In Motion, has emerged as oneof the strongest contenders."

According to Bloomberg News, investors were worried that thePlayBook could have limited appeal -- compared with the iPad andother tablets -- considering that it works best when paired with aBlackBerry. Research In Motion's stock today fell 91 cents, or 1.7percent, to $53.92.

PC shipments: Shares of Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Dell andMicrosoft dropped today -- a day after industry researchers Gartnerand IDC released reports showing a decline in PC shipments in thefirst quarter.

"With the launch of the iPad 2 in February, more consumers eitherswitched to buying an alternative device, or simply held back frombuying PCs," Gartner principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa noted. "We'reinvestigating whether this trend is likely to have a long-termeffect on the PC market."

Gartner listed Palo Alto tech pioneer HP as the world's No. 1computer maker, with an estimated 14.8 million PC shipments and a17.6 percent market share in the first three months of 2011. HP'sshipments dropped 3.4 percent year over year, though. According toGartner, HP was followed by Acer Group, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba.

IDC, meanwhile, also listed HP as No. 1, with global PC shipmentsestimated at 15.2 million and an 18.9 percent market share.According to IDC, HP's shipments dropped 2.8 percent from the firstquarter of 2010. HP was followed by Dell, Acer Group, Lenovo andToshiba.

"While it's tempting to blame the decline completely on thegrowth of media tablets, we believe other factors, includingextended PC lifetimes and the lack of compelling new PC experiences,played equally significant roles," Bob O'Donnell, a program vicepresident with IDC, noted.

HP stock dropped 77 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $4.036. Shares ofHP rival Dell, the Texas computer maker, fell 47 cents, or more than3 percent, to $14.95. Microsoft -- the Redmond, Wash., maker ofWindows software -- declined 21 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $24.52.Intel (INTC) -- the Santa Clara maker of microprocessors that arethe brains in most of our Windows and Mac computers -- closed at$19.58, down 20 cents, or 1 percent.

Apple stock was down, too. Shares of the Cupertino maker of Maccomputers and "i" devices fell $3.71, or 1.1 percent, to $332.42.

Silicon Valley home sales

Home sales here in the Valley of Heart's Delight and throughoutthe Bay Area improved somewhat last month compared with March 2010.However, median prices were lower, according to a report today fromDataQuick Information Systems.

In Santa Clara County, the median resale house price last monthwas $528,000, down 4 percent from a year earlier. The number ofsales was up 4.1 percent to 1,153. The median condominium price,meanwhile, dropped 19.1 percent to $279,000. The number of sales wasup 23.5 percent to 442.

Throughout the nine-county Bay Area, 5,189 single-family homeschanged hands, up 1.9 percent from a year ago. The median price,though, dropped 1 percent to $396,000.

"The housing market has certainly moved well back from the abyssof two years ago, but there is quite a ways to go before it's evenremotely normal," John Walsh, president of San Diego-basedDataQuick, said in an email. "The big issue continues to be mortgagefinancing, which is still problematic for many potential borrowers."

Mortgage rates: Speaking of mortgages, rates on home loans edgedslightly higher this week, according to Freddie Mac. Nationwide, theaverage rate on 30-year fixed loans was 4.91 percent, up from 4.87percent last week, but down from 5.07 percent a year ago. Borrowersalso paid an average upfront fee (known as "points") of 0.6 percent.

Rates on other popular loan types were higher than they were lastweek, but down from a year ago.

Silicon Valley tech stocks

Up: Google (before the close), Oracle (ORCL), eBay (EBAY), GileadSciences (GILD), Yahoo (YHOO).

Down: Apple, Intel, Cisco Systems (CSCO), HP, VMware.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index: Down 1.30 to 2,760.22.

The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average: Up 14.16, or 0.1percent, to 12,285.15.

And the widely watched Standard & Poor's 500 index: Up 0.11 to1,314.52.

Check in weekday afternoons for the 60-Second Business Break, asummary of news from Mercury News staff writers, The AssociatedPress, Bloomberg News and other wire services. Contact Frank Russellat 408-920-5876. Follow him at Twitter.com/mercspike.